English 333 - Seminar: A Major British or American Writer: Reading William Blake

: This seminar focuses on the visual and verbal work of poet and printmaker William Blake (1757-1827) who, though unrecognized in his own time, is today hailed as a prophet, genius and revolutionary. We investigate the tensions in Blake's writings between word and image, myth and history, and knowledge and hypocrisy. Students research the scientific, political, aesthetic and social histories of Britain at the turn of the 19th century to understand both his trenchant critique of the world in which he lived and his utopian, often apocalyptic and revolutionary dreams of a different future. By permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 12.

Instructor Permission. Not open to first-years, sophomores